The Life And Lies Of Cosmina
by DorianSS
Summary: People never accepted that a No-Maj joined Grindelwald willingly. Just who was this young girl that stood by his side? And why did Grindelwald care? [Rating is likely to change to M eventually]
1. Prologue

By all accounts, Cosmina was an ordinary women. Young and newly married, she was adored by her husband and she liked him too. She wasn't exceptionally beautiful but if the jealous stares were anything to go by she was no hag either. She prided herself in her ability to keep up a conversation with the highest intellectuals. Her life as a wife wasn't terribly exciting but it sufficed. When she saw the rare glimpse of true poverty she was glad of her place in life.

Her life would have continued this way, she would have grown old with her husband and would have died a meaningless death with a meaningless life as her legacy. But alas, for better or worse, it was not to be.

It seemed eerily quite in the house that evening. The surrounding area that was usually filled with chatter was now quiet. She didn't want to look out the window, she really didn't. It wasn't right, wasn't proper. Just a peek, she told herself even as a force in the back of her mind protested.

The street was dark and she could barely make out anything. This was unusual too for there would normally be kids playing around and the poor bustling themselves along their seemingly endless journey. Today, there was no one. It seemed it had not been just her mind that had felt the pressure. Though unlike the others, including her husband who was now in their bedroom sleeping, she had refused to comply, to listen to rational thought.

And then there were sharp cracking noises as about half a dozen men and women dressed in somewhat odd clothes, though not too out of place, appeared out of thin air. They seemed to form a circle, each holding a stick in their hands which was alight at the end. Then with the barest sound at all came a person at the centre. He had blonde hair, from what she could see in the dim light. His eyes were closed and he seemed to be breathing deeply as if testing the air out.

In a quick movement his head snapped towards her and his mismatched blue eyes fixated onto hers. They both seemed unable or unwilling to move their gaze. Neither noticed as the world around them crumbled to reveal a barren landscape. Distantly they realised that a siren was blaring without stop. It was he who broke their gaze and looked around, she decided to do so too. She had only begun to realise that this scorched piece of land used to be a city when planes, at least she thought they were planes soared overhead. The young man moved closer to her, and just before he was about to reach me the scene shifted and they were again in a city. It was quiet for the briefest of moments before a sound so loud pierced her ears that she was sure she could no longer hear. Her skin scorched and melted away in an instant and she died.

No, she was back at her home staring into those strange eyes and she could see that he had felt it too. Their death. If anyone asked her to describe the feeling she would only be able to say that it was eternal agony and then eternal peace, quicker than falling asleep.

She backed away from the window and turned but he was there right in front of her. He seemed angry but determined, depressed but hopeful. He seemed... like waves about to crash onto the beach in the most devastating manner. All this should have meant that he was not to be trusted. But they had shared something deeply personal. A secret everyone took to their graves. So when he hugged her she didn't protest. When she sobbed into his arms he said in hushed tones, "Don't worry, friend. We will not let it happen."

Unknown to her then, Grindlewald's acolytes were uprooting any sign of her existence. Her husband died quickly and peacefully in his sleep and so had she for anyone who cared to investigate. The only reason she continued to exist was because everyone expected Grindelwald to finish the job. Her ordinary life was then over and that was one thing she never regretted.

 **AN: I'll be honest. I don't have this story all planned out and Cosmina is going to be more of a Watson to Grindelwald than anything else. Of course she is still the main character and the goal is to see the Wizarding World through her eyes but she is gonna more just react to stuff while Grindelwald is the protagonist. The hero, if you will. I hope stuff in this chapter will make more sense in the coming chapters which I will try to upload daily if short or weekly if I managed to write 10000 words for a chapter.** **P. S. I am trying my best to figure out the timeline of everything without access to my trusty laptop and just my tablet. So if someone who knows a lot about the World Wars and the environment of those times would like to help me then that would be great.**


	2. Chapter 1

Cosmina was oddly quiet as her husband's body was put to rest. Grindelwald, as she had come to know him, stood by her gazing mournfully. It may have not been his hands by which her husband died but it might as well have been him. Despite all that happened yesterday, she felt exceptionally ordinary. Death would do that to you.

She knew her husband was in a better place now, onto the next great adventure, as Grindelwald put it. She believed Grindelwald when he told her that he would have felt no agony, only peace. For now, Grindelwald and his companions were occupying her home on the pretense of being her family, come in a time of need. When her usefulness was finished, she would move on too, she assumed. Perhaps in the grief of her husband's death.

The thought should have terrified her, but it only made her feel one thing : nothing. She had felt true agony, trapped in an instant and eternal all the same. What was a little thing as death to her? Her thoughts were broken as Grindelwald moved back towards the alleyway from which they had come. She walked beside him, looking straight ahead. When he offered her his hand she took it firmly in her grasp. It felt like you were being squeezed through a hole just big enough to let you through and they were back in her home.

The companions of Grindelwald had all gone on separate tasks, given to them by him. Although he referred to them all as his brothers and sisters, it was clear he was the one who led them and they followed. Why? That question bothered her the most, so one quiet evening she decided to ask.

They were having dinner together, in silence. His thoughts about the vision were interrupted by her steely gaze. Grindelwald sighed and then asked, "What is it, friend?"

Cosmina had been determined to speak up today but found herself at a loss of words. There were just too many questions. She decided to ask the most important yet possibly the most offensive question first, "What are you?"

He seemed unimpressed with her question and she ducked her head in slight shame. "I mean, you look human and seem to think and behave like humans but the things that you can do..."

"I am just like anybody else, Cosmina. The things I can do are because I have been granted a great gift. The gift of magic. You know it to be true. You can feel it in your very soul that this is no trick. This is real."

"Somehow, I believe you. What are you hiding from?" she asked. She had thought long and hard about people with such power. What would they seek refuge from? Only more people like them.

Grindelwald chuckled at that, "We are not hiding. There are just some narrow minded people in my community that I would rather avoid. But you are right in your assumption that there could be only one reason for our existence continuing to be hidden. In an age of fear and violence, a great silent war took place between the Wizarding and Non Wizarding world. We were few then, separated and lost. So very lost. The Wizarding World was brought to the brink of annihilation by people who would never feel the true essence of life as we do."

"So you hid, from people like me?" she asked incredulously. "What do you have to fear from us lowly muggles." She had heard the word used among Grindelwald's companions. They used it to describe her as one would an animal.

"Oh dear Cosmina, you don't have to think such things. Muggles are not lesser, but other. They move forward in a world without magic while we stay behind in our comfort zone. Muggles have proven themselves to have a certain penchant for destruction and ironically beautiful creations. It is my dream, of a world where no one, wizards, witches, vampires, werewolves and even muggles have to conceal their true nature. A place where everyone can take their rightful place... In the world."

"If somebody asked me what I wanted, it would be that peace we felt at the end of our lives." she said softly. "Will you kill me, Grindelwald? I want it to be you."

Grindelwald was again staring back into my eyes as he had done that first time. Flashes seemed to rush past her. A vision, that Grindelwald would rise to dominance over the Wizarding World. And inexplicably, she was there with him. It gave her a thrill she never imagined to be possible.

"Perhaps it's time," he said and got up. "I have taken enough advantage of your hospitality."

She tried to rise too but found herself unable to. A flick of his wand and the house started to catch fire. He finally muttered "Protego diabolica"

With that he silently walked out of the house. Soon after so did his companions untouched by the fire. She sat there wondering how it would feel. Being burned alive as the flames came closer and closer. Even though she had asked for it, there was a deep sense of betrayal.

Why was that so? She wondered. She realised with a start that she actually trusted him. Even now, as he left her here to die. She knew deep down that he hadn't wanted to do it. That it was, for the greater good.

Grindelwald watched as the flames consumed the house. He didn't know why they were still here, they should have left but they watched, wanting to remember her sacrifice. And when the dust settled, she was there. As protected as ever. Reborn as a phoenix. Pure and loyal.

 **AN: Cosmina is probably the most weird character I have written. Her thoughts are inconsistent and incomprehensible almost. As someone who fears death its hard to write someone who accepts it so readily. I'll try to write her more consistently now that the foundation for the main story has been laid.** **The spell Protego diabolica comes from the Screenplay of Fantastic Beasts Crimes of Grindelwald. It protects anyone who is loyal and trusting of the caster.** **Please review and tell me what you think of Cosmina.**


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